Russia’s secrecy raises anxiety around plague

A lack of transparency from the Russian government about the status and severity of the suspected outbreak of the pneumonic plague is sparking worries around the world.

The U.S. has sent a formal diplomatic complaint to Moscow demanding more information about the death of a lab worker at an anti-plague research facility in Siberia, a source familiar told NewsNation, The Hill’s partner network. The request came in the form of a demarche, an official diplomatic communication that can be used to protest or object to actions by a foreign government.

“We are also in official communication with other countries around the world to share information,” a State Department spokesperson said.

What’s known is that a 28-year-old female worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia died last week after being hospitalized with a severe case of pneumonia. Russian officials haven’t confirmed the origin of her illness.

Reports indicate that about 200 people in Siberia are under medical observation in the aftermath of the worker’s infection and death.

Unconfirmed reports have indicated the possibility of a second case in the outbreak.

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on the social platform X on Tuesday that Russian health officials reported no cases of plague have been registered in the Irkutsk oblast.

He said they informed the agency that an epidemiological investigation has been conducted , preventative and control measures have been implemented, and identified contacts have been placed under medical observation and tested.

“They reported that no high-threat pathogens had been detected among the contacts and that medical observation of all identified contacts had been completed,” he said.

But this hasn’t satisfied the international community, particularly with memories of the COVID-19 pandemic still fresh in mind.

President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that Russia said they “have it under control.” But he added that its information-sharing leaves more to be desired.

“Russia is sharing a little bit with our people. I want them to share a lot with our people,” he said.

Trump said Tuesday that he planned to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the situation “very soon.”

Secrecy is standard practice for the Kremlin, particularly as it has cracked down on free speech and other civil liberties under Putin.

Any outbreak appears to have been an accident as reports indicate the worker broke a test tube containing live bacteria, but Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) also raised concerns that Russia might be conducting biological weapons research involving the plague. He said additional scrutiny is warranted, especially given Russia’s history of a biological weapons program.

“We do know from defectors in the 1970s and ’80s that they were weaponizing the plague,” Paul told Fox News’s Will Cain in an interview. “So, this is concerning.”

The European Union is also on alert and is working to gather information about the situation.

European Commission spokesperson Eva Hrncirova told reporters that the EU has “channels” for getting information, Politico reported .

“We obviously would like to recall that timely and transparent reporting and access to reliable epidemiological and laboratory finding is essential,” she said.

The European Commission’s Health Security Committee, which evaluates serious cross-border health threats, held a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday morning, Euronews reported . The meeting had already been scheduled previously, but the Russia situation was added to the agenda.

Tedros said WHO has requested further information to clarify the cause of the pneumonia in the worker, the pathogen that prompted the measures and reports of a possible second case.

“Timely, complete and transparent information sharing under the International Health Regulations is essential to clarify conflicting reports and enable an accurate assessment of potential public health risks,” he said.

▪ BBC : Why a global outbreak of pneumonic plague is unlikely.

▪ The Washington Post : How airlines could help, using lessons from the past.

Trump continued his back-and-forth with Canada on Wednesday, saying in an Oval Office event that “we don’t need Canada for anything.” I asked Rep. Pete Steuber (R-Minn.), who’s district borders Canada, if the president has it right.

“Canada is our best friend, a great ally, and the northern part of my district borders Canada. I’ve worked with members of parliament, talked about a lot of things that we have in common, and we’re talking about the USMCA, which is the best trade agreement with our three countries,” Steuber said. “I think we’re going to have a review of the USMCA and sharpen our pencils. I’m confident that our best friend and ally, Canada, will come to a resolution that works for both countries,” he added.

Minnesota, for example, receives a significant amount of natural gas from its northern neighbor. The standoff, especially heading into November , is an interesting conundrum for Republicans in those northern border states whose economies have tight ties to Canada.

Burman hosts “The Hill” weeknights, 6 p.m. EDT/5 p.m. CDT on NewsNation.

Michigan Senate candidates Mike Rogers and Abdul El-Sayed will face off for the first time tonight, in a debate hosted by Nexstar affiliate WOOD-TV. The Hill will provide coverage and analysis of the event, which runs from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Nexstar also owns The Hill.

The majority of the Federal Reserve’s panel that sets interest rates believes another hike is likely to come this year, according to minutes released Wednesday from the committee’s last meeting. The committee will meet twice more before the end of the year, including toward the end of the month.

The Food and Drug Administration won’t publish its safety review of the abortion drug mifepristone until March, the agency revealed in a court filing Wednesday. It said it won’t impose any new restrictions on the pill before then.

The CNN office at the White House is seen empty following President Trump’s ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico, Sept. 19, 2026, in Washington. (Jose Luis Magana, Associated Press)

BACK IN COURT: Lawyers for CNN, MS NOW and Politico will appear in court today for a hearing on Trump’s efforts to revoke the credentialed press access to the White House for their journalists.

The three outlets won back temporary access after Trump moved in late September to bar their access, claiming their reporting endangered U.S. national security. However, the White House has continued to bar CNN and Politico from carrying out press pool duties on Air Force One.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly , a Trump appointee, is likely to extend his temporary injunction in favor of the outlets, as he previously ruled the White House must follow the decades of precedent in Washington that requires news outlets get notice and a chance to respond before their press access is revoked.

The media outlets are sure to raise the Air Force One issue as well.

Once Kelly issues his final decision, the Trump administration will be able to take the case to the court of appeals.

In a court filing late Friday, the administration’s lawyers argued the president moved to bar the media outlets because they “have failed to maintain basic minimum ‘standards of professionalism and decorum expected of those given access to the White House Complex, including’ by ‘publishing sensitive or classified information.’”

The defendants responded in a court filing late Monday, saying the White House offered no new evidence to support those claims.

“At every turn since, Defendants have sought to justify the President’s ‘ban on the free press’ with a series of shifting rationales, lurching from unarticulated standards of professionalism to nebulous and pretextual concerns about protecting national security,” they wrote in the filing Monday.

▪ The Hill : Judge skeptical of FCC’s move to scrutinize ABC station licenses.

PIKE’S FIGHT: A Tennessee judge ordered the state to preserve all evidence related to Christa Pike ’s botched execution last week.

After a court appearance yesterday, one of the lawyers, Luke Ihnen , said he and his legal team have not yet asked the state to turn over evidence but instead wants it preserved “ so that her lawyers, experts, and the public can learn what really happened Wednesday night.”

“Today’s hearing was just a first step of many to preserve and enforce Christa’s constitutional rights after this unprecedented botched execution,” Ihnen said at a news conference.

Pike, 50, survived two lethal injections last week after she was scheduled to become the first woman executed by the state in more than 200 years. Pike was unconscious and on a ventilator for six days and woke up Tuesday and was speaking, according to her lawyers.

They said Pike has pneumonia and no function in her arms .

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) has halted executions in the state after ordering a “comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred.”

▪ WKRN : Attorneys describe Pike’s emotional reaction after waking up.

▪ The Hill : Lawyers look to block Texas man’s execution after Pike incident.

NOT SO FAST : The Democratic National Committee (DNC) sued the Trump administration Wednesday over its taxpayer-funded ads, arguing they misuse congressional appropriations.

“The Trump Administration is using taxpayer dollars to air political advertisements, a blatant violation of the statutory ban on the use of appropriations for ‘publicity or propaganda purposes.’ President Trump personally directed this illegal activity,” the DNC said in its complaint.

Trump has faced backlash from both sides of the aisle over the ads, which denounce socialism and communism and tout his administration’s achievements. He said Monday he would pay for them through his own funds and from his super PAC instead of government money. However, White House officials have clarified he does not intend to reimburse the government for those already aired.

The DNC suit asks a judge to enjoin the government-funded ads, blocking them from airing.

▪ The New York Times : Trump doesn’t plan to reimburse taxpayers for ads.

THWARTED ATTACK: Federal law enforcement thwarted a terror attack by an 18-year-old Minnesota man who allegedly plotted to “commit a mass casualty attack on behalf of ISIS at the Mall of America,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said Wednesday.

The FBI had been investigating Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud for nearly two years. After months of exchanging text messages with a confidential informant for the FBI, Mohamud paid $600 for an AK-47 and 200 rounds of ammunition and was arrested on the spot, the FBI said.

The undercover FBI official was posing as a member of ISIS, according to court documents. In the text messages, Mohamud repeatedly told the informant that he intended to carry out an attack on non-Muslims at the mall on Oct. 24.

“This was a radicalized young man who needed to be watched,” U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen said, praising the FBI agents, who “were able to detect a threat, and disrupt it, before the defendant carried out his intention to kill, in his words, maybe 30 to 60 people.”

▪ The Washington Post : How cockpit doors have changed amid terror attacks.

EXPANDING THREAT: The Hill’s Ellen Mitchell reports on rising concerns about Iran’s capabilities to attack far from its borders, following the security incident outside the U.S.-operated air base in the U.K. Sign up for Insider to check out reporting. The threat prompted the U.S. to move its 12 Air Force B-1 bombers stationed at RAF Fairford to home stations this month.

The president will award the National Medal of Science to SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk , Google co-founder Sergey Brin , Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su during the “Science: A New Golden Age” summit at 1:30 p.m. EDT at the U.S. Institute for Peace. He has policy meetings and an intelligence briefing throughout the day before participating in a tele-rally at 6 p.m. EDT.

FBI agents stand outside the home of Lakiya Malone, who is charged with fraud involving federal homelessness aid programs, in Los Angeles, Sept. 16, 2026. (Jae C. Hong, Associated Press)

FBI GETS POLITICAL : The FBI’s video labeling Democrats, including Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed , as part of the “defund the police crowd” is raising complaints that the bureau has violated the Hatch Act.

The video doesn’t mention the election directly and credits FBI Director Kash Patel with arresting violent criminals and seizing fentanyl. But experts said that the video clearly violates federal laws that prohibit federal employees from making overtly political statements in a government capacity, The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch reports .

“Although the video does not direct viewers to vote for or against a candidate, its message that the candidates’ policies ‘failed’ and ‘Americans were left exposed’ is advocacy against their election that violates the Hatch Act,” Donald Sherman , president and CEO of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), wrote on X.

The video was shared by the FBI’s rapid response X account Tuesday. In addition to El-Sayed, it features former Vice President Kamala Harris , Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) and Ilhan Omar (Minn.), and former Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.).

The video plays the beat of Michael Jackson ‘s “Smooth Criminal.”

“Talking about ‘defund the police’ isn’t necessarily what makes this ad problematic. However, when you start kind of bringing in the political party language and specific candidates for parties in political office, then the government messaging becomes problematic,” Delaney Marsco , director of ethics at the Campaign Legal Center, told Beitsch.

The FBI didn’t respond to Beitsch’s request for comment.

▪ The Hill : Trump officials blur Hatch Act lines with GOP convention speeches.

▪ The Hill : El-Sayed says Benjamin Netanyahu pushed the U.S. into war.

The 2026 Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Names are displayed at the National Hurricane Center on the first day of hurricane season, June 1, 2026, in Miami. (Lynne Sladky, Associated Press)

FIRST HURRICANE: Tropical Storm Isaias has strengthened to become the Atlantic season’s first hurricane ahead of its expected landfall this weekend on the northern Gulf Coast.

The storm is expected to make landfall as a Category 2 hurricane, with wind gusts of 100-120 mph, Friday night or early Saturday morning. Forecasters say it could peak as a Category 3 storm while over the central Gulf.

The latest forecast shows the storm on track to make landfall somewhere between the western Florida Panhandle and the Mississippi coast.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Tuesday declared a state of emergency for 25 counties. State agencies are preparing generators, flood barriers and other essentials in certain areas expected to be impacted.

This year has been a historically quiet Atlantic hurricane season amid the El Niño weather pattern. El Niño causes trade winds to weaken and pushes warm water toward the west coast.

This results in a more active tropical storm season in the Pacific and suppresses hurricane activity in the Atlantic. Warm and dry weather is common in the north, while cold and wet weather takes hold in the south.

This year’s El Niño is on track to be one of the strongest on record. This is the latest in the calendar that the first Atlantic hurricane has formed since 1914, a year in which no Atlantic hurricanes were produced.

The weather pattern may cause hurricane season to be quiet, but it can have wide-ranging implications around the world, leading to intense flooding in some areas and severe drought in others.

National forecasters expect El Niño to last for at least another six months and reach “super” strength in the fall or winter.

▪ Nexstar : This year’s El Niño looks at lot like 1997.

▪ The Associated Press : Weaker wind shield plays role in formation of Isaias.

30 days and 5 takeaways on the midterms , former Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) writes in The Hill.

3 years after Oct. 7, the world still thinks terrorism is someone else’s problem , Sarri Singer writes in The Hill.

A close-up view of a Nobel Prize medal at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., Dec. 8, 2020. (Jacquelyn Martin, Associated Press file)

And finally … It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for the weekly news quiz!

The Nobel committees are handing out its annual awards this week, covering various fields, including the renowned peace prize. This week’s quiz will cover some quick facts about the committees and its awards.

Be sure to email your responses to jgans@thehill.com — please add “Quiz” to your subject line.

Which of the following is not a category that a Nobel Prize is awarded for?

Which president of the ones listed has won a Nobel Prize?

Which country has won the most Nobel Prizes?

The awards have been awarded annually in most years since their first iteration in 1901, but some years have occasionally been skipped. When was the last year that none of the Nobel Prizes were given out?